Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1887-05-17
SHE ).
N.Historer, Of :Hd3ehture
By ]. RIDER HAeGARD.

Already seemed to hear the water ripping
against the desiccated bones and rafting
them together, rolling my skull against
Mahomeds and Mahomeds against mine, till
Mt last Mahomcd's stood straight up upon its
vertebrn, and glared at me through its empty
eye holes, and cursed at me with its grinning
jaws, because /, dog Of Christian, dis
turbed the last sleep of a true believer,
opened my eyes and shuddered at the horrid
dream, and then shuddered again at something
that was not dream, for two great eyes wero
cleaning down at me through tho misty
darkness l struggled up, and in my terror
and confusion shrieked and shrieked again,
so that the others sprung up too, reeling and
drunken with sleep and fright And then all
Of sudden there was u fash of cold steel,
and great spear was held against my throat
and behind it other spears CLEANED cruelty.
"Peace," said a voice, speaking in Arabic,
or rather some dialect into which Arabic en-
tered very largely. "Who are ye who come
hither swimming on the wateri Speak, or ye
der and tho steel pressed sharply against
my throat, sending a cold chill through me.
awe are travellers and have come hither by
chance" answered in my best Arabic which
turned his head and, addressing a tall form
that lowered up in the background, said:
aFather, shall we slayl"
"What is the color OF the menr said deep
voice in answer.
"Wbite is their color.n
HSlay not" was the reply. aFour suns
since was the word brought to me from She
who-must-be-obeyed, White men come; If
eli M
be brought to the land Of She-who-must-bea
obeyed. Bring forth tho men, and let that
which they hnve with them DO brought also"
Come" said the man, half leading and
hnlf dragging me from the boat, and as he
did so perceived other men doing the same
kind Office TO my companions.
On the bank were gathered a company Of
some fifty men. In the light all could mako
out was that they were armed with huge
spears, were very tall and strongly built,
comparatively light IN color, and nude, save
for leopard skin tied round the middle.
Presently Leo and job were bundled out
and placed beside me.
"What on earth is upl" said Leo, rubbing
his eyes.
"Oh, Lord, sir, here's rum gol" calculated
job; and just at that moment a disturbance
ensued, and Mahomed came tumbling be-
tween us, followed by shndowy form with
an uplifted spear.
"Allahl Allah" howled Mahomed, feeling
that he had little to hope from man, protect
incl protect mep
aFather, it Is black one," said voice.
GWhat said She-who-must- be-obeyed about
the black oneln
"she said naught, but slay him not Come
hither, my son."
The man advanced, and the tall, shadowy
form beht forward.
eyes, yes" said the other, and chuckled In
a somewhat blood curdling tone.
care the three white men therep asked the
form.
"Yes, they are theren
"Then bring up that which Is made ready
for them, and let the mon take all that can DO
brought from the thing that floats"
Hardly had he spoken when men came run
ming up, carrying on their shoulders neither
more nor less than palanquins-fou bearers
and two spare men to palanquin-and in
these it was promptly indicated we were ex-
pected TO stow ourselves.
"Well y said Leo, ait is blessingIto find
anybody TO carry us after having to carry
ourselves so long,
Leo always takes cheerful view OF things.
There being no help for it, after seeing tho
others into theirs, Itumbled into my own lit
ter, and very comfortable 1 found it. 1t APP
peared TO be manufactured of cloth woven
from grass fiber, which stretched ami yielded
to every motion of tho body, and being bound
top and bottom to the bearing pole gave a
grateful support to the head and neck.
Scarcely had settled myself when, accom-
panying their steps with monotonous song,
the bearers started at n swinging trot. For
half an hour or so l lay there rejecting on
the very remarkable experiences that VIC
were going through, and wondering II any Of
my eminently respectable fossil friends down
Mt Cambridge would believe me II / were to
be miraculously set at the familiar dinner
able for the purpose of relating them.
don't want TO convey any disrespectful notion
or slight when call those good and learned
gentlemen fossils, but my experience is that
people are apt to fossilize even at an univer-
sity If they follow the same paths too per-
sistently. / was getting fossilized myself, but
of late my stock Of ideas has been very much
enlarged Well, l lay and reflected, and
wondered what on earth would be the end
of it all, till at last ceased 10 wonder and
went to sleep.
suppose / must have slept for seven or
eight hours, getting tho first real rest that i
had had since the night before the loss Of tho
dhow, for when woke the sun was high in
the heavens. We were still joulneying ON at
u'pace Of about four miles an hour. Popping
out through the mistlilse curtains of tho
litter. which we're ingeniously fixed TO the
bearing polo, | perceived, to my infinite re
lief, that we had passed out of the region of
eternal swamp and were now travelling over
swelling, grassy plains toward cup shaped
hill Whether or not IL was the Same hill
that we had seen from the canal do not
know and have never since been able TO dis
cover, for, as we afterward found out, these
people will give little information upon such
points. Next glanced at the men who were
bearing me. They were Of magnificent
build, none Of them being under G feet in
height, and yellowish In color. Generally
their appearance had good deal in common
with that of the East African Somali, but
their hair was not frlzzed up and hung in
thick black locks upon their shoulders Their
features were aquiline, and in many cases ex-
ceedingly handsome, the teeth being especi-
ally regular and beautiful. But notwith-
standing their beauty, 1t struck me that, on
the whole, / had never seen moro evil look
ing set Of faces. There was an aspect OF cold
and sullen cruelty stamped upon them that
revolted me, and which in some cases was
almost uncanny in its intensity.
Another thing that struck me about them
was that they never seemed to smile. Some
times they sung the monotonous song of
which have spoken, but when they were not
singing they remained almost perfectly SILENT
and the light Of laugh never came TO
brighten their somber and evil faces. or
what race could these people bel Their Ian
guage was bastard Arabic, and yet they
were not Arabs; was quite sure OF that
For one thing, they were too dark or rather
yellow. j could not say why, but l knew
that their appearance filled me with sick
fear, of which felt ashamed While was
still wondering, another litter came up along
side OF mine. In it-for the curtains were
drawn--sat an old man clothed in whitish